This five-year U54 award was funded in September 2013 by the NCI's Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equality (PACHE) program. The PACHE enables institutions serving racial/ethnic and/or underserved communities with cancer health disparities and NCI-Designated Cancer Centers (CCs) to train scientists from diverse backgrounds in cancer research and to effectively deliver cancer advances to racially and ethnically diverse communities.
The overall goal of this PACR collaboration between New Mexico State University (NMSU), a minority-serving institution, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), a comprehensive cancer center, is to expand the current regional cancer program at NMSU and to increase knowledge and attention to cancer-related health disparities at FHCRC and NMSU. Three specific aims will help us achieve our overall goal:
- To conduct a diverse portfolio of cancer research projects. We will use the same structured development and rigorous review process to select new projects during the five-year award.
- To maintain, strengthen, and evaluate our effective training programs for current and future underserved scientists. A new core will integrate all training components.
- To implement cancer-related public health interventions in underserved communities. As part of this aim, we will conduct research and disseminate evidence-based practices.
The PACR currently encompasses two cancer research pilot projects, two cancer research full projects, and two cores that involve investigators from four research divisions at Fred Hutch and five scientific departments at NMSU.
Principal Investigators
Beti Thompson, Full Member, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutch
Julian Simon, Associate Member, Clinical Research, Human Biology, and Public Health Sciences Divisions, Fred Hutch
Mary O'Connell, Regents Professor, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University
Graciela Unguez, Professor, Department of Biology, New Mexico State University
For More Information
If you have questions about the Fred Hutch/NMSU U54 partnership, please contact Marilyn Drennan, U54 Project Manager at the Hutch, or Lene Loest, U54 Project Manager at NMSU.
Please visit NMSU's PACR website here.
